NB New Direction - 21. NB ND Chapter 21

I have only just now been informed that two Chinese naval ships have been tracking towards us from the Java Sea. I wish to recommend, that all but a skeleton crew of staff, be evacuated from the island, I suggest that you continue to come in, so the Sub can come in undetected, then leave again” I said to my cousin when he answered.

“Holy hell, oops, I hope Annette didn’t hear that” Sebastian said and that made me chuckle a little, “Ok, I agree, I think it is important to keep everyone safe, go ahead with the evacuation, get everyone onto the Ocean Explorer, and head east for the Australian mainland, I want everyone off the island, lets leave it to the Australian Defence to take care of this situation” Sebastian announced, just as Kyle appeared from the weather room, and he handed me a sheet of paper.

After a brief scan of what was handed to me I passed it onto the Sub Commander, for him to see. “One other thing, Kyle just handed me a weather report, a tropical cyclone has just developed in the Indian Ocean, 965 kilometres south-south-east of the Cocos Keeling Islands, and 600 kilometres due north of us, heading in a Southerly direction, with it being a category one at the moment” I said to Sebastian.

“It is just south of the Chinese ships present position, so that should slow them down a bit” the Sub Commander said after stepping closer, so Sebastian could here. “Right, that is my decision, all civilians off the island, I am declaring this as an emergency evacuation, I will see you when the Catamaran meets up with the Ocean Explorer, bye for now” Seb said and he ended the call.

“Kyle, can you go and ring the bell, and keep ringing it for a good five minutes, so everyone on the island hears it” I said to my best friend, and the Sub Commander and I followed Kyle outside and remained standing outside the administration building, as the bells began to ring.

“Your friend has stated to me that there is a bit of a cavern behind the waterfall. I had our men do a scuba dive to check it, and the water is deep enough and the cavern is big enough to hide your patrol boat behind it, so I suggest you get your Lt Commander to place it in there, and secure it, before he joins the others on the Ocean explorer” the Sub Commander said to me, and I just nodded my head, as everyone started to gather.

Once everyone had gathered, and Kyle had checked that everyone was here, I began my announcement. “After receiving an update of what is happening with some approaching Naval ships, now coming from three directions, plus the formation of a cyclone just 600 km’s north of us.

Sebastian has called for an evacuation of the island, so Lt Commander can you prepare the patrol boat to use it to ferry everyone and all of their belongings to the Ocean Explorer, I will be ordering the Captain to prepare for departure at dusk tonight, so you have 3 hours to get packed and onto the ship” I announced, “What about the island, are we leaving it to be taken over by another country?” Judy asked me.

“No, as you already know, we have one Australian submarine sitting in our bay, tonight we will have another submarine sitting in the other bay nearest the hamlet, plus we will have some Australian SAS dropping in for a stay sometime tonight, so the island will remain a Territory of Australia, just without any civilians, we want everyone to stay safe, to do that we must all evacuate, so lets get moving” I announced.

“Lt Commander, can you stay a moment please” Kyle added, as everyone else headed to their accommodation to pack up and prepare to leave. “Shawn, when you have finished transporting all of the islanders to the ship, and taking the food supplies to the hamlet, there is a cavern behind the waterfall, that is big enough and deep enough for the patrol boat to be hidden, can you secure it in there, before you make your way to the ship, we will have a dinghy from the ship come and pick you and us up” I said to the Lt Commander.

“Yes sir, and yes, I already know about the cavern” Shawn repliedsmiling, and he went to pack up, before going to the jetty to get the patrol boat ready. About half an hour before dark, I watched the catamaran approach the jetty, as the patrol boat was now in its hiding place. I had called Sebastian, and asked him to moor the catamaran on the east side of the main jetty, as the other side is out of bounds. Once moored, I saw Sebastian standing just outside the bridge of the Catamaran, staring down into the bay, before he came downstairs, and joined the twins, Mrs Cooper and her friend at the jetty.

With just Kyle, Annette and I remaining on the island, we gathered to welcome our guests, what we didn’t expect was for Annette to drop down to one knee. “Your Grace, what an unexpected pleasure, welcome to Deepdale Island” Annette said to the woman standing next to Mrs Cooper, who had a large smile on her face.

Standing again, Annette turned to me, Huon and Kyle, may I introduce Anglican Bishop Katherine Ashworth, your grace, this is my son Kyle and his best friend, Huon Devonport, the administrator of this island” Annette said making the introductions. “Bishop, this is an unexpected pleasure, I am just sorry that you have arrived when we are evacuating the island, because of an approaching military conflict, and a tropical cyclone” I said as I stepped forward and shook her hand.

“I am not too worried about it, as I have been an Army reservist and spend some time in conflict regions, when I was a lot younger, now let’s go and see this unique church of yours, Reverend Davies, and maybe we will have time to officially consecrate it as a church” the Bishop said as she began walking down the jetty, with us following. Kyle sped ahead, to lead the Bishop to the stairs.

Once at the top, the Bishop looked around, then stopped as she looked at the container with a smaller container on top, and I heard Annette chuckle, “Yes, your grace, that is my church, boys would you please do the honours” Annette said, and Kyle and I dashed around to the back of the church, and once inside, we opened up the front doors, to reveal the sanctuary of the church.

“Wow, now that is something very unique and special, who came up with this design?” the Bishop said as we all approached, “That would be me, your grace, minister’s son extraordinaire and also organist and choir member” Kyle replied, “that he is your grace, and I am very proud of him.

For some time now, he has been primary carer for Huon here, who has recovered from long periods of time in hospital and physiotherapy, and now he is Administration assistant on this island, which is a private wildlife sanctuary, owned and run by Wagner International Investments, of which Huon is a part owner of the company” Annette added.

“Yes, I am aware of this company, I had some nice conversations with the other owners, on the journey over here, which I must say was quite pleasant” the Bishop said as she began to look around the sanctuary, then went to explore the rest of the building, taking with her a suitcase, that she had been carrying. We left the Bishop to explore, while Annette turned to face Mrs Cooper, “That was very sneaky of you June, I had no Idea that you knew Bishop Ashworth” Annette said to my housekeeper, who smiled, “no body asked” she stated, before she went into the vestry, and returned a few moments later.

“Annette, the Bishop would like to speak to you alone” Mrs Cooper said, as she approached, and Annette made her way into the vestry, while Kyle and I stepped up to the Sanctuary, and moved over to where the organ sat, and we discussed a few hymns for this special service, if it was going to be held today. Annette appeared, dressed in her very best priestly garments, and right away, I knew that the service was about to happen.

Kyle sat down in front of the organ, and looked at the hymn book, while, I dashed around to the store room, to retrieve a few chairs, for those who are present, that being just Sebastian, the Twins, Mrs Cooper, with Jai, Judy, Chris and Margarete suddenly appearing to attend the event. Everyone was quickly seated, with the twins volunteering to join the choir with Kyle and I.

The service was twenty minutes long, with all the pomp and ceremony of a special service, with the twins, Kyle and I providing all the singing and music, and as the sun was setting, the service came to a close, with Annette giving the blessing in Italian and English.

“May the Lord bless you and keep you. Che il Signore ti benedica e ti protegga. May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you. Che il Signore faccia splendere la sua faccia su di te, e sii gentile con te. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace. Possa il Signore sollevare il suo volto su di te, e darti pace” and after that Kyle and I sang the Benediction.

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all, now and evermore. Amen”. As Kyle played some soft music, the Bishop and Annette made their way to the vestry, to remove their service garments, while the bells tolled a few times, to mark the end of the service, and they appeared a few minutes later, by which time, all the chairs had been stacked up and put away.

“So, who taught you to speak Italian so fluently” the Bishop asked Annette as they approached us, outside the church,and at that moment, I saw the twins face away from the rest of us, and Seb and I chuckled. “That would be my twin brothers, those two little rascals, your grace. The twins and I were born and brought up in Switzerland, close to the Leitchenstien border, where our paternal grandparents were from, and they preferred to speak Italian instead of German, our mother - Huon’s aunt, and his mother - our aunt, were sisters from the UK” Sebastian explained.

As the Bishop and Annette stepped out of the church, Kyle stepped in and began to close up the doors from inside, and when all closed up Bishop looked back, “It’s quite remarkable, one moment it is a church, and next it is just a steel shipping container” the Bishop commented, which had Annette chuckling.

“Shall we return to the Southern Explorer, I have arranged for your luggage to be transferred, as the Catamaran is now on its way back to Henderson” Sebastian announced. “Are we going to get everyone to fit on the ship, in the way of accommodation” I asked,.

“Yes, most of the ships crew are now sharing cabins, to make extra cabins available for the rest of the islanders, meanwhile, you, the twins and I will have our usual cabins, as will Kyle. Meanwhile, Mrs Cooper, Mr and Mrs Chakma Patwary, the Bishop, Annette, Stephan Lentz, Chris Roland, Margarete Stromberg, Belinda Harris, Angela Hopeton and Freda Deniker, have been allocated the ten guest cabins on the main deck.

The remaining 5 islanders, all but two being hospitality have seperate cabins on B deck, so everyone should be comfortably happy” Sebastian announced. Once the dinghies had ferried everyone onboard, I went to the bridge, while Sebastian entertained the guests. “Good evening Captain, can you put me in contact with the HMAS Avon please” I asked when I arrived on the bridge, “Good evening Mr Devonport, I am speaking to their commanding officer now as a matter of fact” the Captain replied, as he handed over the phone to me.

“Commander, this is Huon Devonport speaking, all civilians are off the island, except for one, who has insisted on remaining, that being Lt Commander Robertson. Anything military, he will take orders from you, anything to do with the Island he is in command, is that ok with you sir?” I said into the phone.

“Very well Mr Devonport, just to let you know, the Chinese are still approaching from the north, and are nearly two days away, because of the cyclone, the Americans are still approaching from the north west, plus the French, coming from Mauritius and are about 14 hours away, we will be broadcasting a message to those approaching ships in about half an hour” the Sub Commander informed me, “Very well, I leave the island in your care, good luck” I said and I ended the call.

I headed down to the main deck, where everyone was gathered, drinking non alcoholic drinks, and I was handed a drink by one of the ship stewards. “On behalf of the owners of this magnificent ship, I welcome you all onboard, for the return journey back to Fremantle, we have fine weather for the journey, which we will be doing at a slow pace, in hope that we can turn around and return to the island, if the military situation improves.

To all the island staff, just a few things to mention, apart from the five staff being accommodated in crew areas, all crew areas are off limits, we are on the main deck at the moment, so this level, the lower deck below, and the A deck above us are open for your use, as far forward as the main spiral stairs and lift.

On B deck, which is were some staff are accommodated, the executive dining room, and the room opposite, which is a multi use area at the moment, plus the outer rear deck are available for your use, and there is also two side outer decks and a jacuzzi tub that are worth checking out.

Deck C, the senior crew accommodation, Deck D, the executive accommodation and the Bridge are entirely off limits, with the exception of the executitve members of the company, and the ships crew. Although it is usually a three day journey back to Fremantle, we will be slowing right down, once we are 12 hours east of Deepdale Island, so as to remain in the area for another 24 hours, and if things don’t improve, then we will speed up and continue our journey to Fremantle” I announced.

“Excuse me, who are the owners of this ship and the island?” Margarete, one of the newest members of the team asked, “That would be me” Louis stated as he stood up, “and me too” Joachim added, “and me” Sebastian said standing up, then there was a long pause before I stood up, “and finally me” I said smiling, which surprised a few gathered, making the family gathered.

“As senior member of the family, I am the managing director of Wagner International Investments, My younger twin brothers are junior members, of the family company, and Huon, my first cousin here, is the administration director of the company” Sebastian announced.

At that point I walked over to the phone and pressed the button for the bridge, “Captain, we are ready to set sail, please head south-east for twelve hours then hold at that position” I said then hung up the phone, and a few minutes later we were on our way.